Earthstars, apparently these mushrooms can move
I didn't find any "treasures" TODAY, but I spotted these yesterday and decided to investigate.
My first impression upon seeing them was that they look like 'shrapnel' from a biological explosion.
I haven't ever seen mushrooms like these before, apparently they are inedible. Non toxic but they taste very bad.
They don't like flat ground, they like slopes and that's exactly where I found them (on the bank facing the astro near the refuse collection site).
This is a description from the Department of Biology / Utah State University website
https://herbarium.usu.edu/fun-with-fungi/earth-stars
'Earthstars belong to a group of fungi called Gasteromycetes, or "stomach fungi". Their fruiting bodies are a stomach-shaped sac filled with dry spores. They are related to puffballs. Young, closed earthstars are onion-shaped. Their peridium (skin) is made up of three layers. The layers allow the earthstar to do something no other fungus can do. Earthstars can move! When it rains, the outer two layers of the peridium split and uncurl, forming a "star" with 4 to 12 rays. The inner layer of the peridium remains a closed sac.
The rays spread with enough force to push aside leaves, raising the spore-filled sac above surrounding debris. Sometimes the rays even lift the earthstar high enough to break the connection to the parent mycelium. The rays close when they dry, and the sac lowers. Some sacs release their spores when the tender inside peridium wears away. Other sacs toughen and form an opening at the top. When a raindrop strikes these sacs, it pushes in the tough wall, puffing spores out of the opening. After the spores are dispersed the sac breaks down, leaving only fragments attached to the rays. In these older specimens, the star-like rays remain open. Earthstars are found from early June to mid-September.'
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